Blackstratblues is a solo project of Warren Mendonsa, who is a guitarist, songwriter, producer and recordingengineer. Warren got his formal start in music in 1998, forming Zero with childhood friends Sidd Coutto and Girish &Rajeev Talwar.Over the years, Zero grew to enjoy nationwide popularity in India, winning competitions like IIT-Mumbai's Mood Indigo(2000) and RSJ's Great Indian Rock (2003). With Warren, Zero released 2 albums & an EP - Albummed(1999), HookEP (2002), & Procrastination (2005).Besides his work in Zero, Warren recorded & released numerous instrumentals which enjoyed some fame on onlinemusic forums like Gigpad, & Harmony Central. He was also involved in many online collaborations with musicians -most notably Adam Martin, Ed DeGenaro, & Zorran Mendonsa - which resulted in a few songs.In late 2004, Warren moved to Auckland, New Zealand, playing his last full-fledged gig with Zero at Independence Rock2004, a festival they had headlined a few times by now.During this period (while based in Mumbai), he was also a highly sought-after recording engineer & session guitarist,having worked on various film soundtracks, ad jingles, & other albums. Artists/musicians he has worked/played withinclude Vishal/Shekhar, Instant Karma, Shankar/Ehsaan/Loy, Ram Sampath, Lezz Lewis, Shefali Alvares, GinoBanks, Naina Kundu, Tough on Tobacco, Soulmate and HFT.After moving to Auckland, Warren began work on solo instrumental material. This resulted in his debut solo album,Nights In Shining Karma which was released on 18th April 2007 as a free digital-only download.